Gulf Power Company
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Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Utilities |
Headquarters | Pensacola, Florida, USA |
Key people | Marlene Santos (President) [1] |
Number of employees | 1,270 |
Parent | NextEra Energy |
Website | www |
Gulf Power Company (GPC) is a U.S. electric utility founded in 1925 and headquartered in Pensacola, Florida. It has over 450,000 customers in 10 counties and 71 towns in northwest Florida, and a generating capacity of 2.278 GW.[2]
GPC was founded in 1925, and was acquired by Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy (the parent company of Florida Power & Light) in 2019.[3] In 2021 GPC was legally merged into Florida Power & Light. NextEra has stated it will operate GPC as a separate company within FPL through 2021.[4]
Overview[]
Gulf Power Company is headquartered in Pensacola, Florida,[5] and has a service territory that spans 7,550 square miles (19,600 km2) in 10 counties and 71 towns in northwest Florida. Gulf Power has approximately 465,000 customers in Florida.[2]
Gulf Power Company owns 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of transmission lines and 7,636 miles (12,289 km) of distribution lines (1,748 underground) that stretch from the western Alabama border to the Apalachicola River and from the northern Alabama border to the Gulf of Mexico.[6] Gulf Power serves 394,772 retail customers directly and another 14,128 customers through the wholesale delivery of electricity to one investor-owned electric utility and one municipality.
History[]
- Feb. 10, 1925 – Southeastern Power and Light Company – a holding company which operates electric, gas, and street railway systems in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi – purchases the Pensacola Electric Company.
- Oct. 29, 1925 – Gulf Power Company is organized as a Southeastern subsidiary.
- Feb. 6, 1926 – Gulf Power Company acquired the Chipley Light and Power Company and becomes a true operating public utility.
- Late 1926 – The Pensacola Electric Company merges into Gulf Power after being rescued from receivership by the holding company. Electricity during this period was very unreliable and erratic, and came from about 20 scattered and individually operating units. These generators were designed to supply power to ice plants, lumber yards and electric transit systems. In spite of northwest Florida’s poor economic state, Gulf Power had no choice but to modernize its equipment in order to continue operating.
- Sept. 6, 1926 – The Great Miami Hurricane hits Florida with 120 mph (190 km/h) winds and nine-foot storm surges, destroying nearly 4,000 rotting power poles and extinguishing fires in the old downtown Pensacola generating plant. As a result, more than 600 employees from sister companies work to restore service and install a more modern system. They restore power to the region in record time – within 65 days.
- Late 1926 – A 110,000 volt transmission line is built from the northern Alabama/Florida border to Pensacola, Florida – causing the old Allis-Chalmers steam turbine-generator to be placed on standby and therefore ending the era of local power generation. Gulf Power relies on imported energy for the next 39 years, even with an additional 7,366 customers inherited in 1926, and another 40,000 customers after World War II in the mid 1940s.
- 1945 – Gulf Power takes the first step toward producing its own electricity by building a 22,000 kW generating unit at the Crist Steam Plant in Pensacola, Florida, to help supply power after years of outages due to war shortages.
- 2018 – NextEra Energy announces it will acquire Gulf Power from Southern Company.[7] The acquisition was completed in Jan. 2019.[3]
- Jan. 1, 2021 – Gulf Power legally merged into Florida Power & Light. NextEra Energy will operate GPC as a separate division within FPL through 2021.[4]
Generating facilities[]
Fossil fuel power plants[]
Plant | Nearest City | Units | Total Capacity |
---|---|---|---|
James F. Crist Electric Generating Plant | Pensacola, Florida | 4 | 930,000 kW |
Gulf Power also owns a percentage of the following generating units [8] | |||
Plant | Nearest City | Ownership Percentage | Total Capacity |
Victor J. Daniel Electric Generating Plant (Plant Daniel) | Escatawpa, Mississippi | 506,500 kW (50%) | 2,000,000 kW |
Robert W. Scherer Steam-Electric Generating Plant (Plant Scherer) | Juliette, Georgia | 210,900 kW (25%) | 3,272,000 kW |
Commercial generation Pea Ridge | Pea Ridge, Florida | 15,000 kW |
Community[]
Gulf Power Company is the largest single taxpayer in northwest Florida. The company’s city, county, state and federal taxes totaled $132.4 million for 2007 – amounting to 10.5 cents out of every dollar earned by the company or $311 per customer. In 2007, the company supported local agencies, chambers of commerce, economic development groups and the United Way as well as other charitable organizations with nearly $1.2 million. Gulf Power employees also contributed more than $80,000 to various philanthropies in northwest Florida.[9]
Environment & Conservation[]
As of 2011, Gulf Power has reduced its overall plant emissions by 85 percent since 1992, while adding 135,000 customers over that time period.[9]
See also[]
List of power stations in Florida
References[]
- ^ http://www.gulfpower.com/about/organization.asp
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Our Company". Gulf Power. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "NextEra Energy completes acquisition of Gulf Power from Southern Company". Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "FPL reaches comprehensive four-year rate settlement agreement". Florida Power & Light Company. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ http://www.gulfpower.com/contact/home.asp
- ^ http://www.gulfpower.com/about/facts.asp
- ^ http://www.sfltimes.com/business/fpl-parent-to-buy-gulf-power
- ^ http://www.gulfpower.com/about/plants.asp
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Gulf Power | My Account" (PDF).
External links[]
- Gulf Power Official Site
- NextEra Energy Parent Company
- Electric power companies of the United States
- NextEra Energy
- Energy infrastructure in Florida
- Companies based in Pensacola, Florida
- American companies established in 1925
- Energy companies established in 1925
- Non-renewable resource companies established in 1925
- 1925 establishments in Florida
- Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange